THE LISTS, part 2 – Top Albums of 2008

December 15, 2008 at 3:10 am · Filed under Lists, Music Reviews ·Tagged Beach House, Bob Dylan, Bon Iver, Born Ruffians, Conor Oberst, Cut Copy, Deerhunter, Eagles of Death Metal, Fleet Foxes, Flight of the Conchords, Flying Lotus, Foals, Foo Fighters, Girl Talk, Led Zeppelin, No Age, Pitchfork, Portishead, The Band, The Beatles, The Bug, The Dodo's, The Walkmen, TV On The Radio, Vampire Weekend, Wolf Parade

Ugh.  I began to write this entry while procrastinating a week’s worth of hell, and I finished it doing the same thing.  Only this time it was a different week.  Regardless, this list took a lot longer than the last, for obvious reasons, and only makes me dread making part 3 (the movies list) sometime in later January in ways that still somehow allow me to look forward to it.  Either way, it’s a nice feeling of relief to know I’m done with this, and I like my picks.  I’m eager to see how different mine are from Pitchfork.  After all, that’s the only reason I wanted to put this out so soon – to beat Pitchfork and to prevent myself from being influenced.  Anyway, here goes.

1. You & Me – The Walkmen
2. Dear Science – TV On The Radio
3. Red, Yellow & Blue – Born Ruffians
4. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
5. For Emma, Forever Ago – Bon Iver
6. Visiter – The Dodos
7. Devotion – Beach House
8. Feed The Animals – Girl Talk
9. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
10. Third – Portishead
11. Nouns – No Age
12. In Ghost Colours – Cut Copy
13. Heart On – Eagles Of Death Metal
14. Los Angeles – Flying Lotus
15. At Mount Zoomer – Wolf Parade
16. London Zoo – The Bug
17. Flight Of The Conchords – Flight Of The Conchords
18. Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst
19. Antidotes – Foals
20. Microcastle – Deerhunter

1. You & Me – Not a lot of drama to this one.  This gets the top spot for a number of reasons: 1) All of its songs put together are better than all of the songs of any other album this year put together. 2) Its whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which are already pretty great. 3) The reason why #2 is true is because the album is put together so damn well – the Walkmen absolutely nail the album’s tone, which means that they’re smart enough to recognize how to pace the album and put one song in front of the other brilliantly. (3 highlights: Four Provinces, Red Moon, The Blue Route)
2. Dear Science – An overstimulus of complete joy, righteous anger, social frustration, and sexual prowess rolled into one.  David Sitek’s production blows my socks off.  The utilization of the horn section is masterful, the absolute talent of the two frontmen (there are two now, did you know that?) vocally, and IT’S A GODDAMN TV ON THE RADIO ALBUM.  HOW COULD IT NOT BE IN MY TOP TWO.  THE FACT THAT IT’S NOT NUMBER ONE IS BEYOND EVEN MYSELF. (3 highlights: Lover’s Day, Golden Age, Crying)
3. Red, Yellow & Blue – Born Ruffians live by the KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) code of music.  They don’t overproduce ANYTHING – in fact, the main negative point against it on the interwebs is that it’s underproduced.  The lyrics don’t get overblown in scale, even for love songs (Luke LaLonde’s awesome voice also helps the innocence of those hit home).  And even though LaLonde is a great guitarist (trust me, you need to see him live) and Mitch the bassist is also pretty badass, their musicianship is kind of stunning in its lack of bravado.  Goddamn, did this album really just charm its way into the top three? (3 highlights: Barnacle Goose, Hedonistic Me, I Need A Life)
4. Fleet Foxes – Every time I thought about the best albums of the year, the above three came up, along with Third, Devotion, and Vampire Weekend occasionally.  For some reason, this never entered my mind, even though I love it a whole lot.  Anyone who loves this band can tell you why (beautiful harmonies, easy naturalism, yada yada), but I think maybe the reason behind it all, the real reason why Fleet Foxes has in some way captured the indie zeitgeist, is that it’s a lot like late 60’s classic folk rock, and even more to the rock side in some ways.  The fact that they channel it so well and in such a fresh way is the main source of their popularity to me, because people still really love the Band, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and other bands like them, even if they never listen to them any more because they’ve internalized it all.  And Fleet Foxes combines a lot of the bands’ best characteristics, so they feel more complete to me. (3 highlights: Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, Sun It Rises, Ragged Wood)
5. For Emma, Forever Ago – Like I said for “Skinny Love,” the only reason I didn’t review this album is because it was just beyond words for me.  And while that description alone seems to make it a candidate for number one, it’s not an equal statement to the one I made about The Dark Knight.  It’s just that this album is so organic, it doesn’t really seem like art or anything analogous.  Sure, the harmonies are totally sublime and the album is really insular and gives you that recorded-in-a-cabin-in-Wisconsin-winter feel (because it was), but this doesn’t really seem like it was made, more like born.  That’s the most rewarding aspect of the album for me. (3 highlights: Skinny Love, Creature Fear, Flume)
6. Visiter – You can tell how painstaking the process of putting this album together was – how do you make songs that sound so much the same not get old, while still making the album feel continuous? Well, just increase the quality of the songs, duh.  This also has three crucial short interlude songs that, while still real musical, are enough of a break to not make the album feel like a chore.  I’ve heard this called “freak folk,” but I don’t get it.  It’s just guitar and drums, with a couple studio flourishes.  But those two instruments really make the music feel fully realized, which is a feat.  Most of the credit should go to vocalist/guitarist Meric Long, whose guitar really fills the space. (3 highlights: Fools, Red And Purple, Jodi)
7. Devotion – Sometimes I like to read iTunes’ reviews of albums that I like.  It’s fun, because a lot of the time it’s diametrically opposed to the Pitchfork review of the same album (see Fighters, Foo), and just as much of the time is equally as self-important as Pitchfork, which is even funnier for iTunes in ways too obvious to go into here.  But the iTunes review of this album got me a little mad, because it called the music lonely and haunting, reminiscent of a beach house only “stranded on a winter night so desolate that summer isn’t even a memory.”  I vehemently disagree.  I think there’s a real warmth to this music, a laid-back calm reflective of the porch of a beach house in late August, when the parties are beginning to wind down but the general feeling of goodwill remains.  (3 highlights: Heart of Chambers, Gila, Wedding Bell)
8. Feed The Animals – Speaking of summer albums…I referred to this as a perfect summer jam way back when I reviewed this (man, that was really long ago, come to think of it), and I stand by my statement, even though it’s December now and I still love the album.  The pacing of this isn’t identical the whole way, but it stays consistent enough to keep people on the dance floor for this whole album.  There were a couple albums this year that went on longer than I was expecting them to, but still managed not to drag – it just seemed like a pleasant surprise when there was another song.  This is one of them, as is Visiter, as is Conor Oberst (to be mentioned later), to a lesser extent.  And come on, even Ethan liked this one.  If Ethan likes it and it’s made after 1990 and isn’t Lenny Kravitz, then it’s only because it’s impossible not to like.  (3 highlights: Play Your Part pt. 1, Let Me See You, What It’s All About)
9. Vampire Weekend – What, you thought I forgot about our little Columbian buddies with the afrobeat rhythms and the Nautica wardrobes?  They’ve been around long enough to be pegged and pigeonholed, passed by, labeled as passé, remixed, jibed, joked about, and all that.   And yet their music is still catchy, still grabbing, and still smart (note the Oxford comma in that sentence).  Now the only thing left for them to do is make more music.  Let’s hope it doesn’t get old as fast as the Strokes did. (3 highlights: Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, M79, Walcott)
10. Third – Back to the enjoyment of iTunes reviews – The last two sentences of this one are, “Songs shut down abruptly, or clang on with battered electronics.  Intense.” Come on, guys.  That’s something I would write – on a bad day.  Take some pride in your work.  On the subject of the album, I can see people disliking Beth Gibbons’ voice as being a little off, but to me that just adds a layer to music that would appeal to anyone just based on creep-out factor.  So if you begin to dig this album, chances are you more than begin.  This album really came at me from all angles – creepy ukelele track (“Deep Water”), check.  “Iron Man”-style guitar interruption (“Hunter”), check.  Creepy, but still catchy and head-bobbing downward arpeggio synths (“The Rip”), check. (3 highlights: The Rip, Silence, Machine Gun)
11. Nouns – A surprisingly varied, complete album from an LA duo that I frankly didn’t see coming at all.  I kind of liked last year’s album, Weirdo Rippers, but eh – a little too noisy for me.  And I kind of liked them live when they came to Oberlin in February.  But then I got a hold of this album a week or so before it came out, and I was thinking, whoa.  Where did this come from? And although that was just a more roundabout way of repeating the first sentence, I hope it just lends weight to my saying that you owe it to yourself to give this album multiple listens.  Even if it seems abrasive at first, this album will reward you for giving it a chance.  (3 highlights: Things I Did When I Was Dead, Eraser, Brain Burner)
12. In Ghost Colours – This album would easily be in the top ten, maybe even the top five, had it been able to keep up the pace of its first half.  Seriously, it comes out of the gates swinging a baseball bat dipped in Day-Glo paint that replaces the heads it’s just bashed in with disco balls.  Non-ironic, totally non-sucking disco balls.  But, sadly, the album does drag about the time it gets past “So Haunted”.  So sue it.  Put the first seven tracks on repeat and act like it’s one of the best albums of the year.  (3 highlights: Out There On The Ice, Lights And Music, Feel The Love)
13. Heart On – Seriously, do I need to write about this one again already? Just read my review, it was so recent. (3 highlights: Now I’m A Fool, How Can A Man With So Many Friends Feel So All Alone, Solo Flights)
14. Los Angeles – There’s something really brilliant and organic going on behind this album.  It doesn’t matter how fast or how slow each individual track is, there’s something in each one that makes me want to keep listening, even in the ones that don’t have as great and as varied a progression as “GNG BNG”.  I don’t know, maybe half a year spent reviewing things has finally worn on me, but this is out of my league. (3 highlights: GNG BNG, Comet Course, Camel)
15. At Mount Zoomer – Talk about your growers.  If you go back and read my original review, then you can see that my original feelings were…tepid.  But after seeing them live, and after listening to the album a bunch more, I’ve been forced to reconsider.  The raw ambition on display here is really impressive, especially on the closing track; I think this band’s main strength is their fearlessness.  If they want to change keys, they don’t give a fuck; they just do it.  If they want to fuck with time signature, full steam ahead.  They go big.  And though this isn’t the triumph that their debut was, Wolf Parade go big here, and a lot of the time, they hit their mark.  Just as much of a surprise to me as anybody.  (3 highlights: Kissing The Beehive, Soldier’s Grin, Fine Young Cannibals)
16. London Zoo – You’ll be able to tell in 3o seconds whether or not you’ll like this album.  Did you enjoy the West Indian/British accents, the angry rapping, the ballsy, immediate production? You did? Good, then strap yourself in, because you’re in for a whole lot more.  And it’s real good shit.  Whether it’s downtempo or storming onward, the beats are central here.  And why wouldn’t they be? The Bug is the producer for all these tracks; what changes is the MC.  And thank god, because the beats are absolutely incredible to me.  (3 highlights: Angry ft. Tippa Irie,  Jah War ft. Flowdan, Judgement ft. Ricky Ranking)
17. Flight Of The Conchords – Funny guys, these guys.  The humor in their earlier music used to come from the jokes in the words primarily; hence all the weird-New Zealander-Tenacious D comparisons.  But now, the primary source comes from the music itself – the lyrics may not be very jokey, but the spot on-ness of the music towards the genre it’s parodying is startling and makes me smile every time.  The fact that the lyrics match up in their subject matter, but have FOTC’s now-signature awkward, self-deprecating twist.  And let’s not forget their silver bullet of musical appeal: awesome New Zealander accents. (3 highlights: Inner City Pressure, Think About It, The Most Beautiful Girl [In The Room])
18. Conor Oberst – So help me, if this guy’s next album doesn’t have him on the cover smokin’ a cig in a white button-down shirt and skinny jeans, then he’s deceiving us.  Oberst is turning into Dylan, we all know this.  And we all wish we could do it as well as he.  Of course, since he started out screaming emo anthems for whiny high school sophomores, he is more confident putting some 11 in his voice (get it?), like in “NYC – Gone, Gone”.  This gives him a key element in carving his own path, so that there’s something in listening to his music, instead of just wishing you were listening to the real Dylan.  And of course, no one’s questioning his songwriting by now – note the Dylan comparisons. (3 highlights: Get-Well-Cards, I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital), Moab)
19. Antidotes – Big ups to Jesse Goldstein for the tip on this one.  I’m a giant hypocrite for this, but it does take me a while to get into music that other people show me – I think it’s that I don’t have the joy of discovery that opens my mind for other things more immediately, so I just don’t absorb things as fast.  But as soon as the lock clicked for me, I realized that these guys are damn good.  Their songwriting needs work – actually, scratch that.  They need songwriting, because so far it seems like their words are totally meaningless.  But musically, they have a great sense of how to keep a groove and pound it home.  Helena said that this reminds her of Minus the Bear, and after relistening to some of their stuff, I have to qualify it a bit: like Minus the Bear, but good.  A lot of the similarity is derived from the tight, minimalist guitar throughout.  But these guys don’t go for false emotion; they don’t want to make you feel anything.  They’re just doing their thing, and I think that gives them a giant edge.  (3 highlights: The French Open, Cassius, Big Big Love [Fig. 2])
20. Microcastle – It kind of hurt a little to put Deerhunter on the list (if you go to Oberlin or read Pitchfork consistently, and know me, you understand why), but what can I say.  They cleared up their sound, so now they’re making good music that’s pretty easily accessible.  I have to give them credit for that.  And in songs like “Nothing Ever Happened,” they do kind of rock.  They rock, there I said it.  But mostly, their songs have kind of this underwater feel going on that is understated enough not to get annoying, but present enough to make them really identifiable and unique.  Et tu, Bradford? (3 highlights: Nothing Ever Happened, Agoraphobia, Saved By Old Times)

Once I get back for winter break, you can expect a rash of movie reviews as I get my ass to the theaters.  I hope to see Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Valkyrie, Milk, and a host of others before the new year.  Wish me luck.

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